As you may already know, I have launched a long overdue new website with a bit of a new direction. It showcases the work I am best at as well as the where I am moving with my photography career. This feels right to me and has been a long time coming.

As some of you know that know me so well, I have always been a little afraid of doing what I want. I was forever asking for permission and approval from friends, family, strangers, mentors and even my poor child. The pain of too many “no” responses in my life felt larger than I could carry around anymore and I just wanted someone to tell me it was okay. What I learned is that it is okay. It’s always okay because it’s your life and you can live it how you want. Make mistakes. Revisit the plan. And try again. We might fall or we might fly, but we can always get up and try again. I tell my son everyday “Nobody lived a life in fear.” So here I go. Wish me luck as I jump into these unfamiliar waters.

Along with my awesome new site (!), is a blog that is attached to it. I am going to continue my writing and photography over there from here on, so if you want to join me over there and not miss out on all the fun and love, check it out! The blog will remain much of the same as it has been. Just parked in a new location.

I hope you will come along! I am excited for this new adventure I am on. And have many exciting announcements and events to come! Check it out!

Oh friends…this was a weekend for the books. We seem to be creating a super summer around these parts. First Mexico (read about that here and here). Then, it was Asheville for a spell this weekend. And now we are back to Charleston for the 4th of July. I couldn’t be having a better summer if I planned it. And all good material for this little project. Score!

What did you do? Chill out at home watching reruns of Fraiser?(I’d be jealous!) Travel? Visit with family? Or work? (I squeezed in a little of that too.) Here is our weekend. Enjoy.After a morning photoshoot with some of my new favorite people, we took a little trip to the Farmers Market in Asheville for some inspired dinner ingredients...…and breakfast ingredients, too!

Buy local.

A trip to the ice cream shop. Salted caramel for the win! (Taken with my trusty iPhone.)

This neighborhood garden made me stop the car, get out and take a photo.

A Sunday trip to Sliding Rock and Looking Glass Falls. Look at my boys shooting down the rock. And yes, even I did it. But no, you may not see those photos. (Taken with my trusty iPhone.)

Where in the world is Graham?Our foggy drive down the Blue Ridge Parkway.The tunnels are my favorite part.

Fireflies at night. A right of passage.

We even flexed our muscles at a little game of Corn Hole!

Okay so this is technically not 10, but 12. So you get 2 bonus shots. Almost like I promised the guys if they beat me one day at corn hole.

This is all I want for summertime. Slipping and sliding in the backyard. Icy popsicles melting in your hands. Sidewalk chalk. Bubbles. Drippy, juicy watermelon and peaches. Late nights and lightening bugs. Baseball and boiled peanuts. Green grass. Homemade ice cream and homegrown tomatoes. Salty lips and sandy feet.

All I look for is a simple summer with the long days that we yearn for all year long. I don’t understand when summer got so complicated with all it’s camps and schedules and agendas. It’s like we can’t remember anymore how to slow down and relax into an easier pace and a softer rhythm. It seems like somewhere along the way, we forgot that summer is for recharging and reconnecting with family, with friends…with the simple pleasure of having fun.

So thanks again, Summer, for your gentle reminders of how life is meant to be enjoyed….simply, sweetly and softly.

I am going to be honest with you. I really didn’t think I would be able to get to this edition of my #weekend10 – such as it is. After our trip to Mexico last week, our household has been in the process of recovering from Montezuma’s Revenge (look it up if you don’t know what I am talking about. Or don’t…because it’s icky). It was a pretty wicked case and at one point I was certain this was how some weary traveler died. I digress.

Seriously though, picking up a camera was not high up on my priority list. But yesterday morning, by some act of fate, God, or karma I finally started feeling a bit better – thanks mostly to my SUPER DUPER SISTER who came to my rescue as she always does (Thanks, Holly!). I was extremely grateful for this parting of the proverbial clouds, as it came just in time for me to squeeze in a rescheduled photoshoot with the Wiley clan and capture a few little photos of what we were doing around here.

What about you? What did you get up to this weekend? I’d love to hear!

Catnip is blooming. I need to trim it back!Jalepenos…after the rain.A forgotten harvest, found the next day…oops!Bella!

This sweet girl with her kitty purse and her little buddy stole my heart a little.Bros.Super Frankie! Pretty much the coolest little dog I have ever met. Boogie on down to the beach.It’s not summer until the croquet set gets broken out.

Smiley face pizza is where it’s at. (iPhone photo)

What you don’t see: Rest, and lots of it. Kombucha. World Cup soccer (we gave it away!!!!). An impromptu water fight. Harvesting. Cleaning. Laughing together.

One of the things I love most about travel is experiencing the culture wherever I am visiting – whether it’s on the sandy shores of a fishing village in Bali or the rolling mountains of a tucked away village in Vermont. So it is no surprise that one of my favorite stops on our recent trip to Mexico was in the quaint little town of Valladolid – a sweet, historical little spot that seemed to bustle with energy and culture. I love walking the streets to see what people are doing and how they actually live. There is a simple thrill for me involved in a simple visit to a supermarket or tagging along with some locals to their favorite pub.

There was no tagging along on this trip, but we did stop to walk around for a short time. It was a long day and we had a group of 13 hot, sweaty, and mildly cranky people with about 20 minutes to run a quarter of a mile through the city’s center. It was short and sweet, but I still got to see some of the hustle and bustle that made this town one of the top tourism draws in Mexico.

One of my favorite parts of the entire trip to Mexico was on our little walk around this town. We wandered down a little side street where several vendors had their wares set out to sell to the locals. Fruit. Veggies. Cold drinks. A few doors down was a local barber – closed down for an afternoon siesta I presume. Around the corner, a few people gathered in a restaurant talking over cervezas – getting out of the heat of the midday sun. It all looked vaguely like I had walked into the set of some movie being filmed in Cuba. Something familiar, yet perfectly authentic.

Maybe that’s what we all look for in places we visit – the familiarly authentic scenes we associate with a place. We each had a different story about what we wanted to see. Some of us wanted to experience the real culture (sights, smells and all!) while others seemed to want to bask in the glow of the turquoise waters of our all-inclusive resort. The experience we want most seems to come from the story we tell ourselves. And the joy of our experience comes from the picture we have painted of it in our heads before we even enter the experience.

Whatever the place, I still try to wander like a child – still wondering and looking. Searching and seeing for the first time… on every trip and in every corner I visit. Wondering and wandering. Wandering and wondering.